Different types of pressure regulators for two-stage breathing apparatuses are known, which are by now widespread since more than fifty years in the world of both professional and recreation diving. Over the course of time and the changing diving approach, increasingly directed to the so called “dive tourism”, models of these devices have been developed that make increasingly comfortable their use, intended for an increasingly wider and less selected public on a hand, and for specialized users which have become increasingly more demanding on the other hand. The use of balancing jackets, the so called “jackets”, being deployed, the regulator first stage had to provide at least one couple of additional medium pressure outlets, in addition to the one intended for the second main stage. This need has raised the issue of how to place these outlets and manage the arrangement of the hoses around the regulator body, and consequently around the cylinder.
In the first stage regulators, generally the reduction chamber, also called medium pressure chamber, communicates with the high-pressure gas supply through a balance valve, that is influenced by the pressure of the external environment by a balance diaphragm acting on the valve by means of a suitable actuator. The high-pressure gas supply can be coaxial to the operating axis of the valve, as document EP1531124 shows, or arranged with the axis perpendicular to the afore said operating axis, as conversely appears from document EP0807571.
The reduction chamber outlets, that in the afore mentioned EP1531124 can be more than one, are conversely generally arranged, as evident in both the mentioned documents but also for example in EP0531195, with the axis perpendicular to the operating axis of the balance valve. This configuration forces some kind of hose arrangement, and offers a more reduced range of possible regulator configurations, which can reduce the comfort level for the user. It should be noted that in this type of activity, although undertaken for recreation, the operational convenience of a technical solution greatly increases the system safety level, since often acting in non-ideal environmental conditions.